The weather is a convenient excuse, I know. But the wet weather was as much of a handicap for our opponents as it was for us; didn't prevent Souths from managing to actually win the game. I think we were better than Canberra on the night, and as such I didn't sit round thinking, well, on a dry day, their attack probably would have really clicked! Don't see why I should be doing it with my own team. Our attack, the second half of the very first game aside, when we were helped by opponent injuries, has been consistently poor. And I don't see it as being merely bad form; we simply do not have very many attacking weapons. But I think the coach could do more with the attacking plays, which would help.
We played to the weather and have a record of 2-2 in the rain. So we've done ok and tbh we should have won that Melbourne game if not for a dodgy f**king ref. So it should have been 3-1.
So what exactly is the problem? The fact we aren't scoring 30 points a game in the bloody wet? Given we are 2-2 and one of those losses was dodgy neither are our bloody opponents apparently.
We've played to the conditions and just because Souths did better on the night and didn't miss a tackle till the 55th minute in a freakish defensive display we need to change the whole bloody team around? Come on lets be real here.
Wet weather football to its fundamental core is protect the football and high percentage plays. Throwing the ball around will only have resulted in more errors on a night like Friday. We have been in a position where we have focused on our defense and that will then benefit us down the track as we know we have the Def to hold any team to 18 points or less on most days - That is what all top 4 teams historically have in common and it is what we are building.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel here. The fundamentals are there for a very good football team. Our defense has been the best it has been in over a decade. We have a developing halves combination and some players learning to play with each other and developing attacking combinations.
The only changes I would make...is what I have said before - Kingston out with Tyrone Peachey in with Seg starting and Peachey/Brown rotating hooking role if Seg cannot play 80 minutes. And then bringing Plum back in whether it be for any of the props I couldn't care less.
Other than that I wouldn't make any drastic changes. Eventually I'd like to see Brown or Docker be displaced by Bryce Cartwright but he needs to prove he can handle the load defensively or maybe VTK comes back and proves he is a first grader. The other option is obviously Matt Robinson.
As for the backs, I'd like to see Nabuli get a go but I doubt he will unless Mansour signs elsewhere and then the coach just drops him. Maybe he gets a go with DWZ going back to NSW Cup to hone his craft but I think Simmons will come back in for DWZ.
Overall though, we are a shitload better team than this point last year. We are very unlucky not to be on 4 wins from 6 at present. There is no reason to make wholesale changes when we haven't really seen what the potential of this team is yet.
If in the middle of the year we are outside the top 8 and we are not putting it together and combinations are obviously not working...then yeah lets have productive discussion about it...but until then there is no point imo.
The other point guys look at who we are arguing over - "Peachey over Brown. RCG over Latimore, John over Wallace, Nabuli/Naiqama over Mansour/Simmons, DWZ over Moylan". There is no freaking Ciraldo, Newton, Walsh, Purtell to be seen here. It is a hugely better team that is developing combinations as they get to know one another's games. Let them at least do that before sticking the knife in please.
